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Going to school is supposed to be one of the best chapters of your life as you learn about the world and get taught all the skills that you need for adulthood. And teachers are supposed to be your mentors and sometimes even your friends. Unfortunately, this romantic idea of what school should be like doesn’t always match up with reality.

Justin Boldaji shared a story on Twitter about how his science teacher gave him a lower mark on his test because he doodled monsters in the margins of the paper. He then asked other internet users to share their own stories about how and when they became “radicalized” in school. Upvote the stories that resonated with you, dear Pandas, and drop us a comment if anything similar has happened to you in school. Be sure to scroll down for Bored Panda's interview with Justin.

Justin’s story moved a lot of people who thought that they had a lot in common with him. His post got more than 225k likes and was retweeted 16.8k times and lots of Twitter users went on to explain what jerk teachers they had to deal with in their school days.

Image credits: justinboldaji

According to Justin, what happened to him in the 4th grade still bothers him to this day. "It’s a memory that resurfaces occasionally and I get angry about it all over again." He added that he didn't expect his thread to go viral and expected 10 to 15 likes at best.

Justin said that his teacher's actions didn't demotivate him or stop him from drawing: "If anything it made me realize even more clearly that I wanted to do something artistic for a living, because if someone hates monsters, they’re dead inside. Regarding my art these days, I have a kids book I’m self publishing in a month or two called 'The T. Rex With Fluff Who Wanted to be Tough.' It’s about a dinosaur who wants to be cool but thinks he can’t because of how he looks. It’s a book that I think will be able to help a lot of kids."

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He also had some advice for people who are in school now and are having a rough time with their teachers. "School doesn’t last forever and you’re gonna deal with these jamokes in the professional world so never falter to the haters. Do your own thing always!" Justin said.

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Samantha Lomb
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How hard is it to accommodate something like that? It costs the teacher nothing. I've had students with bad eyes and would make big font assignments for them. It costs nothing

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Even though we have high expectations from teachers, we sometimes forget that they’re human beings—they have flaws and, unfortunately, sometimes they punish their students for being creative or when they ‘step out of line.’ While other teachers can be straight-up bullies.

ThoughtCo. writes how an anonymous survey from 2006 showed that 45 percent of teachers admitted that they bullied a student at least once. Teachers can bully students because they lack the proper training in how children should be disciplined. Others might bully students because they are bullied in class themselves or were the victims of bullies when they were kids.

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Carol Emory
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This c**p happened a lot to me because I would ace tests and throw off the curve on grading. I hated those curves. They were designed for bad teachers that hoped their poor teaching skills wouldn't result in half the class failing.

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Alan McEvoy explains in a piece in Tolerance Magazine how students feel powerless and shamed when teachers target them. “Teacher bullying can also have a contagion effect, indicating to students that the bullying of a particular individual is acceptable and making the individual vulnerable to more abuse,” he adds.

You’d think that other teachers would step in and put a stop to their colleague’s actions, but this is wishful thinking. Sometimes, they’ll think that there’s nothing that they can do. While the teachers who bully their students defend themselves by saying how they’re ‘disciplining’ and ‘motivating’ their students or even try to write it off as a joke.

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If you suspect that your child’s being bullied, it’s incredibly important that you support them, document all the times they were picked on by their teachers, talk to other parents to see if the problem’s bigger than you suspected.

Afterward, try meeting with the teacher and if that doesn’t work, go up the chain of command: have a chat with the principal, then the superintendent, then the school board.

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Hans
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I remember a friend in elementary school how could not bring materials for art class. Would be sitting there hour for hour, doing nothing, earning an E, ignored by the teachers. I was too young to fully understand, but I grasp he wanted but couldn't and no one with the power to change something would care.

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Carol Emory
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My husband did an abstract art piece (painting) that had simple figures of people dancing outside the walls of a city while the city was burning. He proudly took it to class only to have the TA (professor was out) look at it and say, "No..that's not abstract..this is." And proceeded to take a paint brush and spattered black paint all over my husbands work. My husband was furious. So was I. IDGAF if you think it was wrong or not...you don't destroy someone else's work like that.

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Carol Emory
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had that happen too. Teacher insisted I must've plagiarized it. Tried to give me a failing grade. My mother went postal so the principal graded it himself looking up my references and reading it word by word. He gave it back to the English teacher and said "She earned an A." The teacher was furious..swears I got away with cheating. No one liked her in the school..not even the other teachers. Not surprising that she left after several of the parents threatened to sue if she wasn't fired backed by several of the good teachers threatening to resign.

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Leo Domitrix
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or you could argue you shouldn't be punished for not burning something down...

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Francis
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

if i write 7 without the horizontal line it looks like a 1. it (the horizontal line) is the way we learn to write the 7 in my country...

Kaisu
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me too, I always write the 7 with a horizontal line because that's how I learned it

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Perfumista Perfumista
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

put lines across my 7s for over 40 years. Had to stop in my current job because the woman in verification insisted they looked like 9s. They did not look like 9s.

Carol Emory
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was so good at math as a child, I'd take tests and be able to figure out the answer without having to write it out. I'd get marked wrong constantly. I's ask why..they'd say because I didn't show how I reached my answer. I said, "but is the answer incorrect?" Especially when they never asked to see my work. They finally started putting "show your work" as part of the requirements for the exam on the paper. It wasn't until I was in High School that one teacher says "Always show your work because, if you do get the answer wrong, we might be able to see where you went wrong in your math..and you can still get partial credit for it instead of none at all." Now that statement made sense.

Demi Zwaan
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's how I always write a seven. That's... how you write a seven. I've never seen anyone do anything else. It's just in (type) fonts that it's often omitted.

Rosie Hamilton
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In the UK we tend to write the 7 without the horizontal bar though some friends of mine went through a phase of doing it the 'foreign way' (their words) just because it was different. No-one was marked down for it as far as I'm aware.

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Lilac Poet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Teachers can be like this. I do it in my workbooks but whenever I have an exam, I don't do a line because some teachers hate it and it is ALWAYS the injust ones.

DrBronxx
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's ridiculous. I find that writing it with the horizontal line is much better and much clearer. Not everyone has the best handwriting, and if you're not careful, a 7 can look very much like a random line.

Nic Cooper
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is an old film from during WWII where nazis pretended to be English soldiers in a small village, but one of the things that gave them away was when they wrote their 7's with a slash through them. It was something the Germans did but not the British

Alexis D.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a teacher who would mark "8" wrong if you wrote it as two "o"s on top of one another, even if the answer was 8, in 4th grade. I still remember that BS

Bender Bending Rodríguez
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I grew up abroad. In the USA I was told my 7 looked like a 1 because it had a horizontal line on the stem in the middle. Not only that but I was also advised not to write 7 with the horizontal line on the stem since "That's not how you write 7".

Kateryna
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I was in 6th grade I wrote "9" similar to a "g" because it was the way I learned it in elementary school. The teacher kept marking it wrong till my "9"s started looking like "q". Can`t go back to "g" now though I liked it better.

Colleen Marie
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yep - I make my "r's" different - same thing. Don't you DARE step outside that box! Just made me more adamant.

Hans
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All of these are but symbols. Especially a math teacher should understand that!

mickey
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I write the seven like that too, how is it wrong though?

eimipet
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I actually got the opposite... my 3rd grade teacher wrote her 7 with the horizontal line and when I wrote a 7 like 7 then I got a 46 out of 100 because we were doing the 7 times table. I’m still mad!!

Celtic Pirate Queen
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The US is just about the only country that DOESN'T cross the 7 to distinguish it from a 1!

kk
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A seven is a seven as long as you can tell it's a seven there should be no problem

D. Pitbull
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yup. I used to get penalized, ridiculed, called out loud in class because... not only did I cross my 7s (still do), but I also put the slash in 0's... because when writing something alphanumeric................"this is obviously illegible. What is this. Who writes like this? NOBODY". I WISH there was a karmic retribution follow up to that...

Steve Cruz
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I saw the same with zero that had a diagonal slash through it, to differentiate it from a capital "O" from the alphabet.

Lisa Beatty
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always put a horizontal line in the 7s and a diagonal in the 0s so I know what they are

Gayle Chandler
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nuns in high school wrote their 7s with the line through. I’ve done it ever since. That was over 50 years ago.

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Catherine Hankinson
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was the same. We were doing our GCSEs and reading in class. The teacher asked me a question and my response was "what page are you on" I'd read the text book about three times and was reading another book. Didn't go down well.

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Carol Emory
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I would have marched into the principals office and stated breach of contract.

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Leo Domitrix
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nothing like a fascist for a teacher to make you hate education.

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Kaisu
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What's with all these teachers who can't handle exceptionally smart children? Are they jealous because they developed slower as children or what?

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Leo Domitrix
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, yeah. They're stooping to below petty when they go after the ragged edges.

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Carol Emory
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I took business classes in high school including Business Law. There was this one guy in class that liked me and showed it by pawing me during class. Every time I moved, he'd show up at the last minute and squeeze a chair in next to me so he could do it again. I finally yelled "Keep your hands off me!" The guy turned beet red and moved away. The teacher said "Is there a problem?" I replied "Not anymore." The guy sat on the opposite side of the room from me after that. Sorry your teacher was a douche apparently.

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Leo Domitrix
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We once transferred mid-year in school. I'd learned cursive at the prior school. I had to not use it because the new school didn't do that till the next grade level.

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Big Blue Cat
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My Finnish teacher claimed I didn't turn in my writings (some short story) at the previous class, because she couldn't find it in her papers. I calmly told her that I did and told her what it was about. I could see from her face that she remembered reading it and then she started panicing, what to do when she has lost my paper. I tried to calm her down and jokingly said that she could give me a 7 like all the previous papers. (I really thought it was funny that I got the same number from her to all my writings through the whole year.) That's when she lost it. She started bawling she can't even grade papers and ran to the teachers lounge to cry. Maybe she had a point, did she really give it any thought if all 10 papers got the same grade and I can't remember getting feedback how to improve. After that incident I remember getting better grades from her. Our grades went from 4-10, 10 being the best number and you could get halfs like 7.5 so teachers really could fine tune the grades.

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Gabi
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hate such teachers. I hate everyone who says "I never praise, I scold only" What is going on with those frustrated incels?!

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Lilly Rose Poppy
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At my school we have two math classes, advanced and regular, so this does not happen

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GARRETT O'BANION
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why do i feel like some schools have dictators for teachers/principals?

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#41

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Samantha Lomb
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You must be British. Americans do not think weapons are inappropriate for kids. Plus if that was a rule it needed to be clear at the begining

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PristineMisty
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3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sad. Teachers should be more kind, but they also go through a LOT of hassle.

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lara
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I wrote it was always the first draft I wrote with minor corrections i.e. spelling or grammar. When I wrote my dissertation, my first "draft" was my final draft, just corrected spelling, grammar and added foots. Writing the same paper over and over is like giving birth to the same baby over and over.

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Carol Emory
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a second grade teacher that actually got in my face screaming at me because we were supposed to be pulling out calendars to update them on what was due later that week. I couldn't hear what he asked us to do because two kids behind me were talking. I was looking around at the other kids to see if I could figure out what he wanted..but apparently I didn't move fast enough.

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Carol Emory
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Define irony! LOL I actually had a Business Law professor (retook the class in college) that taught me a very valuable lesson on why you shouldn't read during class lectures. I would read during class lecture. One day, I was reading about contracts and who can enforce them and/or sue when they are breached. I tuned out the professor and had the chapter read before the end of class. On the next exam, he puts "Explain how contracts are enforceable by using the concert example given in lecture." Wha? I tried to fake it, but when I got the graded exam back, there was a note in red ink that said "This is why you need to pay attention to the lecture." I certainly did after that.

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SanchaTheSeeker
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The fact that she never gave you a limit but punished you for stepping over the invisible limit...bruh

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Nightmare Scar Paladin
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had a teacher in 4th grade who didn't let me go to the bathroom because we were in the middle of a lesson, I ended up peeing my pants and had to get a new pair from the nurse that didn't fit right, I used to love that teacher until then

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Leo Domitrix
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My dad beat me, and eventually my school convinced him I needed eyeglasses. So... sometimes a teacher is a good force in one's life.

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Carol Emory
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had a friend whose mother was British. She learned to write using a British dictionary. So teacher kept constantly marking her down when she'd spell "color" "honor" and "price"..."colour" "honour" and "prise" Her mother marched down to the teacher and shoved the dictionary in her face saying "Show me the word she misspelled in this dictionary." The teacher finally caved and stopped marking her off, but would make marks on her papers to say "American English here."

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Lynda Momalo
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4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What a clueless wonder -- the teacher probably didn't know what finis meant!

#58

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togcrewsc
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sometimes I use the British or Canadian way of spelling things because it just makes more sense, and then I got points taken off. I told the teacher that my spelling was correct, and showed her the dictionary. I had to read the dictionary as punishment, but I had already done that when I was younger.

#62

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OhForSmegSake
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I knew a young woman that went to a private school like that, they even had to have regulation underwear from the uniform shop (and staff did underwear checks) or face detention.

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JuJu
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4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We had chocolate and bubble gum cigarettes in that time

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Lynda Momalo
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People who work with children should know better. They should have said, "That's a fun way to move around, isn't it? But we need to walk on our feet at school."

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